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Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Bettye LaVette Gears Up For Release Of 'Interpretations' With First Track Premiere

The release of BETTYE LaVETTE's eagerly awaited follow up to her Grammy-nominated Scene of the Crime is just around the corner with the May 25 release of INTERPRETATIONS: THE BRITISH ROCK SONGBOOK. In anticipation, Anti- Records and Paste Magazine are making BETTYE's take on the Jagger/Richards' gem from the classic Beggar's Banquet album "Salt of the Earth" available now at Paste Magazine.

On her upcoming Interpretations, BETTYE brings the British invasion home to its American R&B roots, looking to the past for inspiration and uncovering common ancestry in seemingly divergent musical avenues. Throughout the new album, her performances are a revelation, inhabiting each song so completely as to make them her own. To that end, BETTYE made some changes to the lyrics on a number of songs including the aforementioned track "Salt of the Earth," whereby she modernized "strange beauty shows" to "reality shows" and "polio" to "HIV."

Fittingly, Keith Richards has given BETTYE some advance praise, noting: "When you hear a voice like Bettye LaVette's there's a sense of transportation (NOT to a penal colony!), but a certain freedom of movement and emotion, which is rare. Especially to me and I suspect other Englishmen who were so fascinated by the music that is so natural to Bettye while we were still getting our feet wet. The 'hands across the pond' aspect gives me a warm feeling. A connection! A great record. Put me in the fan club! How did Bettye LaVette slip thru the net for so long?"

Produced by BETTYE, Rob Mathes and Michael Stevens, the album is a 13-song journey through compositions by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd among others, before concluding right where the very idea for INTERPRETATIONS started: BETTYE's visceral show-stopping rendition of The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" from the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors, which appears here as an extended bonus track.

Meanwhile, Joss Stone, who has shared the stage with BETTYE, declares: "What a voice and what a soul to compliment such a talent. I believe every word, as does everyone that has had the pleasure of hearing Bettye LaVette sing. She's inspired a lot of great music. You can hear clearly that her influence is all over the new music today."